Frankfurt, Jul. 7, (dpa/GNA) – The days when families had an average of five children are long gone, as worldwide low birth rates are up sharply, the German Federal Institute for Population Research (BIB) reported on Friday.
In the 1960s, the birthrate was around five children per woman but today around 5.4 billion people, or 68% of the world’s population, live in countries where women have fewer than 2.1 children, an evaluation of UN data showed.
A birth rate of 2.1 children per woman is necessary to maintain population, otherwise known as the replacement level.
According to BIB data, on average women worldwide have 2.3 children in the course of their lives.
In Germany, the birth rate has been below the population maintenance level since 1970. The fact that the population has not shrunk since then is due to immigration.
Since 2020, India, now the most populous country in the world, has also fallen below the level of population maintenance.
GNA